Misleading Public Statements About COVID-19

Carolyn C Meltzer; Richard H Wiggins, III; Mahmud Mossa-Basha; Susan Palasis; Eric Russell; David Mikulis; Patricia Rhyner; James Anderson; Ryan B Peterson; James Smirniotopoulos; A James Barkovich; Robert D Zimmerman; Christopher G Filippi; Howard A Rowley; Nicholas A Koontz; Ann K Jay; Joshua Nickerson; Bronwyn Hamilton; Daniel Chow; Christopher T Whitlow

doi:10.1016/j.jacr.2020.10.012

letter

. 2020 Oct 24;18(1):6–7. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2020.10.012

Misleading Public Statements About COVID-19

Carolyn C Meltzer ¹, Richard H Wiggins III ², Mahmud Mossa-Basha ³, Susan Palasis ⁴, Eric Russell ⁵, David Mikulis ⁶, Patricia Rhyner ⁷, James Anderson ⁸, Ryan B Peterson ⁹, James Smirniotopoulos ¹⁰, A James Barkovich ¹¹, Robert D Zimmerman ¹², Christopher G Filippi ¹³, Howard A Rowley ¹⁴, Nicholas A Koontz ¹⁵, Ann K Jay ¹⁶, Joshua Nickerson ¹⁷, Bronwyn Hamilton ¹⁸, Daniel Chow ¹⁹, Christopher T Whitlow ²⁰

¹Professor of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Neurology, and Psychiatry and Behavioral Science; Chair, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences; Executive Associate Dean, Faculty Academic Advancement, Leadership, and Inclusion, Emory University School of Medicine, 1364 Clifton Road, EUH D-112, Atlanta, GA 30322

²Associate Dean, University of Utah School of Medicine; Professor, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, Utah

³Associate Professor, Department of Radiology; Vice Chair of Clinical Operations; Chief of Radiology, University of Washington and NWH Medical Centers; Medical Director of MRI, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington

⁴Division Head of Pediatric Neuroradiology; Vice Chair, Department of Medical Imaging, Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago; Associate Professor of Radiology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois

⁵Department of Radiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois

⁶Professor and Director of the JDMI Functional Neuroimaging Research Lab; Senior Scientist Krembil Research Institute; Full Member, Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Department of Medical Imaging, The University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

⁷Former Professor, Emory Univeristy School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia

⁸Professor of Radiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon

⁹Assistant Professor of Radiology and Imaging Sciences; Associate Program Director, Diagnostic Radiology Residency; Associate Program Director, Transitional Year Internship, Emory University School of Medicine; Clinical Site Director of Neuroradiology, Grady Memorial Hospital; MRI Safety Officer, Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta, Georgia

¹⁰Professorial Lecturer, George Washington University, Washington, DC

¹¹Professor in Residence, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging; Chief of Pediatric Neuroradiology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California

¹²Emeritus Professor of Radiology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York

¹³Chairman, Department of Radiology, Tufts University School of Medicine; Radiologist-in-Chief, Tufts Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts

¹⁴Professor of Radiology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin

¹⁵Director of Fellowship Programs; Dean D.T. Maglinte Scholar in Radiology Education; Assistant Professor of Radiology, Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana

¹⁶Associate Professor, Departments of Radiology and Otolaryngology; Director for Head and Neck Imaging; Program Director for the Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program; Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC

¹⁷Associate Professor of Radiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, Oregon

¹⁸Professor of Diagnostic Radiology, School of Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon

¹⁹Assistant Professor-in-Residence, Radiological Sciences, Co-Director, Center for Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Medicine, Department of Radiological Sciences, Co-Director, Precision Health through Artificial Intelligence, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California

²⁰Professor, Departments of Radiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Biostatistics and Data Science; Chief of Neuroradiology; Vice Chair of Informatics, Department of Radiology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

PMCID: PMC7585358 PMID: 33129769

Since the first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the United States, it has created worldwide upheaval in health and the delivery of health care to its victims [1,2]. As of this writing, this novel virus has killed almost 220,000 Americans. As leaders in the field of neuroradiology, we are writing to express our concerns about the public statements of one of our neuroradiology colleagues, Dr Scott Atlas, MD. We do not take this action lightly. These statements have included misrepresentations of the available scientific evidence about “herd immunity” as a public health strategy for COVID-19 [3]. Further unsubstantiated statements, devoid of scientific evidence or scholarship, misrepresent the safety of children returning to school and cast doubt on the advice of leading epidemiologists and other public health scientists and experts on this and related activities [4]. In the interest of public health, we urge citizens and institutions to look to our infectious disease and epidemiology colleagues to lead during this or any other global pandemic.

We call on our radiology colleagues and other specialties to join us in the active representation of medical ethical principles to minimize harm and to rely on sound science by speaking to the evidence and partnering with those who are trained and knowledgeable to guide the public during this challenging time.

Footnotes

Dr Meltzer is a member of the board of the RSNA (receives travel reimbursement only). The authors state that they have no conflict of interest related to the material discussed in this article.

References

1.Chakraborty I., Maity P. COVID-19 outbreak: migration, effects on society, global environment and prevention. Sci Total Environ. 2020;728:138882. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138882. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
2.Rosen M.P., Norbash A., Kruskal J., Meltzer C.C., Yee J., Thrall J. Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the practice of clinical radiology. J Am Coll Radiol. 2020;17:1096–1100. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2020.07.002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
3.Alwan N.A., Burgess R.A., Ashworth S. Scientific consensus on the COVID-19 pandemic: we need to act now. Lancet. 2020;396:e24. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32153-X. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
4.Walensky R.P., Del Rio C. From mitigation to containment of the COVID-19 pandemic putting the SARS-CoV-2 genie back in the bottle. JAMA. 2020;322:1889–1890. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.6572. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

[bib1] 1.Chakraborty I., Maity P. COVID-19 outbreak: migration, effects on society, global environment and prevention. Sci Total Environ. 2020;728:138882. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138882. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

[bib2] 2.Rosen M.P., Norbash A., Kruskal J., Meltzer C.C., Yee J., Thrall J. Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the practice of clinical radiology. J Am Coll Radiol. 2020;17:1096–1100. doi: 10.1016/j.jacr.2020.07.002. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

[bib3] 3.Alwan N.A., Burgess R.A., Ashworth S. Scientific consensus on the COVID-19 pandemic: we need to act now. Lancet. 2020;396:e24. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32153-X. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

[bib4] 4.Walensky R.P., Del Rio C. From mitigation to containment of the COVID-19 pandemic putting the SARS-CoV-2 genie back in the bottle. JAMA. 2020;322:1889–1890. doi: 10.1001/jama.2020.6572. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

PERMALINK

Misleading Public Statements About COVID-19

Carolyn C Meltzer, MD

Richard H Wiggins III, MD

Mahmud Mossa-Basha, MD

Susan Palasis, MD

Eric Russell, MD

David Mikulis, MD

Patricia Rhyner, MD

James Anderson, MD

Ryan B Peterson, MD

James Smirniotopoulos, MD

A James Barkovich, MD

Robert D Zimmerman, MD

Christopher G Filippi, MD

Howard A Rowley, MD

Nicholas A Koontz, MD

Ann K Jay, MD

Joshua Nickerson, MD

Bronwyn Hamilton, MD

Daniel Chow, MD

Christopher T Whitlow, MD, PhD, MHA

Footnotes

References

ACTIONS

PERMALINK

RESOURCES

Cite

Add to Collections

PERMALINK

Misleading Public Statements About COVID-19

Carolyn C Meltzer, MD

Richard H Wiggins III, MD

Mahmud Mossa-Basha, MD

Susan Palasis, MD

Eric Russell, MD

David Mikulis, MD

Patricia Rhyner, MD

James Anderson, MD

Ryan B Peterson, MD

James Smirniotopoulos, MD

A James Barkovich, MD

Robert D Zimmerman, MD

Christopher G Filippi, MD

Howard A Rowley, MD

Nicholas A Koontz, MD

Ann K Jay, MD

Joshua Nickerson, MD

Bronwyn Hamilton, MD

Daniel Chow, MD

Christopher T Whitlow, MD, PhD, MHA

Footnotes

References

ACTIONS

PERMALINK

RESOURCES

Similar articles

Cited by other articles

Links to NCBI Databases